3 comments to In Dutch

[Paul van Bree, the clairvoyant, said,] “I tell them that dead relatives are doing well and that they love them.”

So it’s obvious: Dead relatives are always doing well and always love their still-living criminal kin. Otherwise, how would Bree know what to say in advance? Personally, I think in this situation, as a dead person, I might express some disappointment from beyond the grave.

The Justice department tell us they don’t know any sir Van Bree, how is that possible?
“Oh, yes, ehm, I was talking in the present time was I? And on my website it also says I’m still doing it. But the last time I was in the prison of Scheveningen was one and a half years ago. I have done those treatments for three years. It’s really true, I still have the invoices.”

From this article I gather that this was not a national policy but only happened in the city of Maastricht.

“Maastricht Social Services have put pressure on wellfare beneficiaries to follow a reincarnation therapy at the expense of the municipality. Clients who refused were told that their attitude could have consequences for their wellfare benefits”

Further I gather from the article that not everybody was consulted and definitely not everybody agreed with this. From the article it is unclear if they ever actually put this idea to practice or if it was canceled after other people found out and brought it up in political meetings of the City Council.

Marcus Huibers, primary clinical psychology professor at Maastricht University who works also as a psychotherapist at the mental health centre of Maastricht is baffled. “As far as I am concerned this falls into the category of witchcraft and similar. We’re talking about a completely obscure therapy that does not even deserve the name therapy.”

From this article I gather that it was just a standalone case and never got put into further practice or policy.

A spokesperson [1] from the municiplaity claims that it was simply one case and that the person herself had asked for the therapy. But according to Steijns [2] the woman had asked for a re-integration project and instead got forced into a re-incarnation therapy. The therapy was given to the woman as an introduction to the reintegration therapy according to the spokesperson, and that’s why it was at the expense of the municipality.

[1] presumably somebody who was involved with this reincarnation therapy
[2] a city councilor who got wind of the whole thing and brought it up at higher political levels

PS: I have not found any corroboration for this last sentence from the Telegraph article or where they got it from: “In 2007, 42,500 Dutch people signed up to state funded spiritually-based “personal development programmes”.